AL East Notes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Farrell, Ichiro

The Red Sox have plenty of money to spend but a soft free agent market means that General Manager Ben Cherington will have to get creative to improve the club heading into 2013. Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald looks at some of the available options, including Yankees first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher. It doesn't seem likely that Swisher would be a fit for the Red Sox as he will turn 32 in November and believes that he's in store for a Jayson Werth-type deal. While executives don't see the veteran getting something in the neighborhood of $126MM over seven years, he's still likely to net a lucrative multi-year pact. Here's more out of the AL East..

The Blue Jays continue to suggest that they won't let manager John Farrell go to the Red Sox, but Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com isn't sure why as they don't seem to be sure about him in the long term. Several people around baseball suggest that things are less-than-perfect between Farrell and the Toronto front office.

Of course, the Blue Jays could have a change of heart, and Alex Speier of WEEI.com looks at what it might cost the Red Sox to pry Farrell away. The two deals that happened last year involving decision-makers suggest that Boston wouldn't have to forfeit an elite prospect in a trade. While the Marlins shipped right-hander Jhan Marinez and infielder Osvaldo Martinez, ranked fourth and fifth in their farm system, to the White Sox for Ozzie Guillen, Jim Callis of Baseball America notes that their rankings were a reflection of Marlins' lack of minor league talent.

The union between Ichiro Suzuki and the Yankees has turned out to be an ideal marriage, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. General Manager Brian Cashman told Ichiro prior to the trade that he would have to shift to left field and hit towards the bottom of the lineup. However, the outfielder has since moved up to second in the order and has seen time at all three outfield spots.

Comments

Boston needs to move on from this. It’s funny that all the lobbyists / media for the Red Sox Front Office have been so aggressive in banging the Farrell drum & now they don’t like the price. What did they think?…that the Blue Jays were going to acquiesce just cuz Boston asked nicely? As a divisional rival, you’ll have to pay more or move on.

I think there is something to this story. Reports from Peter Gammons give it a lot of credibility. If Toronto doesn’t co-operate, it will be hard for Boston to move to Plan B because that person will know they are a lame duck until Farrell becomes available after 2013 season.

If they fail to land Farrell for a second consecutive off-season, would it not dawn on them that it’s just not going to happen? While it’s possible that the Blue Jays & Farrell have had disagreements, who is suggesting that any difference can’t be repaired? I haven’t seen one pundit say the relationship is broken beyond repair. People have disagreements all the time in life & don’t divorce.

At some point Boston has to realize they can’t continue to chase John Farrell down the rabbit hole. It’s futile. You either pay the Blue Jays what they want for his services or you hire someone else long-term.

IMO Bosox painted themselves into a corner with their aggressive pursuit of Farrell. Although Blue Jays have pressure to resolve Farrell situation before spring training, Bosox have more pressure to acquire Farrell by the end of this month.

Toronto has zero pressure to do anything. They’re the ones with all the leverage. Don’t want to deal/can’t come to a deal? They continue on with the coach they hired. He doesn’t want to sign? Let him walk (Boston will likely have a manager under contract) and hire someone else.

Really think the reports of ‘friction’ between Farrell and Anthopolous are fiction/over blown. It’s no surprise those rumours are coming out of Boston, and no where else…. including Toronto.

This is why Arnie Beyeler makes sense. Even if they go to Farrell a year later, Beyeler stays in the organization either back with the PawSox or as bench coach. Free agents? Something in my gut says they talk to Guthrie and Wigginton.

Yep, an “organization man” makes complete sense for Plan B. This situation reminds me of the trade discussions between Jays and Bosox over Scott Downs. AA felt no need to unload Downs at the deadline because the guy was a Type A free agent. He wasn’t going to settle for average prospects. I suspect he has a similar mindset in this situation.

I have said this in a few other post before. The first thing they are going to look for is a Number 1 starter. I think they will trade for Tim Lincecum. They have money to spend and his 22 million is too much for Giants if they try and lock up Posey.

I’m really thrilled about Yankees making a good run. It’s a shame after the career that Ichiro has had that he hasn’t been to the postseason since his first season. Was a good move for him and the Yankees.

No one is going to give swish a “Werth” contract. He is a good player and I would be happy if they brought him back year, but I have a hard time seeing him get over $75M and that is only if the market is really robust. It is helpful though that he can play a few different positions. At the end of the day he is a 32 year old, he is not elite enough to pay him until he is 39. Votto, Pujols, etc you have to make a contract that long, swish isn’t in their league.

He is a similiar player to ethier, only ethier is 2 years younger when signed to extension, and got overpaid.

The Boston Red Sox ‘traded’ Theo Epstein to the Cubs, and Red Sox brass raised a brouhaha over how much Epstein was ‘worth’. It ended badly, as the pitcher Boston acquired went down with injury a few weeks in.
The whole point of the article is to point out how much the tables have turned on the Red Sox.

Cherington wanted to hire the inexperienced, Dale Sveum, who was subsequently hired by Theo Epstein as the Cubs manager. Sveum led the Cubbies to a 61-101 record in 2012, which is the worst season record for the Cubs since 1967 when Leo Durocher managed the team. Lucchino overruled Cherington because he had, and still has, final transaction approval… Thank God, things could have been a whole lot worse than they were.

It was pretty funny. Lincecum, having an awful season where he had the luxury of pitching half of his games at one of the most pitcher friendly stadiums in the entire games received mostly a free pass from writers and fans, while Jon Lester, a lefty, pitched half of his games at one of the most offensive friendly stadiums in the league (and worse for lefties as well) was eaten alive by both writers and fans.

Majority of Lester’s overall numbers were STILL better than Lincecum’s this year even.. Facing a DH and all.

Funny how writers and fans always seem to have certain teams they prefer to pick on is it not?

Cherington didn’t know what he was doing when he proposed hiring Sveum to the media. He wanted a “yes” man when the situation called for someone in the manager’s slot who had the ability to regain control of the clubhouse. The real problem was not in the hiring of Valentine, as anyone hired, in lieu of Sveum, would have befallen the same fate as Bobby V. As you rightly point out Theo didn’t expect much from the Cubbies so he hired the totally inexperienced Sveum. What the hell, he had to hire someone! Why not this bum? In my opinion hiring Sveum in Boston would have resulted in Cherington running the team and producing the same, if not worse results. Lets not forget that even with Cherington’s interference, Valentine had the team at or near .500 shortly before the big sell off in August. Sveum never came close .500 at any point in the season…